Better Pivots than the English Netball Team 😁

Beginners and Advanced Agility met today, on what turned out to be a glorious spring day.

The Beginners Agility group welcomed three new members, a very clever cockapoo called Rue, a brave and dashing cocker spaniel and a beautiful Gordon Setter, Georgie. The class was held by Lovely Annie and it started by introducing the dogs and their handlers to some warm up exercises, including stretches, light massage and an introduction to foot placement and spatial awareness. Luckily Mark, one of our trainers, and his two year old Dobermann Zeus were on hand to show everyone how it is done. Zeus wowed the class with his fabulous pivots, gamely rotating around the bucket with two legs on the ground and two on the bucket. Mark cued the direction that he wanted Zeus to move in by moving his body around the bucket and without luring with food.

The class then went on to introduce their dogs to the various pieces of agility equipment. All dogs did extremely well and tackled each obstacle confidently.

More experienced members of the groups went on to perform more complex tunnel work and redirections.

The advanced Agility class met later and after a similar warm up spent some time practising the welcome art of sending dogs over jumps without the need to run with them. This involved working on impulse control and ensuring that the dogs understood handsignals and directions. Much of the redirection work that we learn in obedience classes comes into play during Agility training and as a handler you become very aware of how important it is that your hand is in the right position, otherwise you watch in dismay as your dog races around the wrong course….😩

🌷🌞Spring was definitely in the air, and in the dogs paws… it was a wonderful way to spend the afternoon. 🌞🌷